Thursday, April 30, 2015

This
outstanding documentary by Adam Pearce focuses on the feud between himself and
Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and gives
us a look behind the scenes at a turbulent time for the National Wrestling Alliance.

As with all
my DVD reviews I’m not going to give away all the fine details for I fully
believe you need to watch it for yourself, but I will summarize the highlights.

The
documentary features extensive sit down interviews with “Scrap Iron” Adam
Pearce, Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana, and Championship Wrestling from Hollywood
promoter David Marquez.It also features
from comments from:

In the
beginning we learn that Colt Cabana and Adam Pearce grew up 17 miles away from
each other near Chicago and have known of each other since their high school
years.Later they trained together at
Steel Domain and their careers
crisscrossed each other since then.

Their feud
began in the summer of 2010 at Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and
culminated on March 6, 2011 with Colt Cabana winning the NWA World Heavyweight
Championship and a fantastic match up.

Then in a
regrettable move, the NWA had Cabana lose the belt cold to The Sheik.Pearce, Cabana, and other discuss why this
happened and why they thought it was a mistake.I’ve read online that some feel the Sheik
bought his title reign then forgot that wrestling was a work and then didn’t
want to lose it.Ultimately the NWA
stripped the Sheik of the championship and wanted to put the title back on Adam
Pearce and essentially have Cabana and Pearce do their feud again.

Pearce only
agreed if Cabana was to get the title for a year as he felt Cabana was the man
who was perfect to carry the company based on his following and fan base.Initially Cabana was hesitant to agree to
this because of what happened previously, but in the end he agreed.

Their feud
began anew this time with then teaming together for a time before Pearce turned
on Cabana which led to their match on April 8, 2012 in Glendale, CA at
Championship Wrestling from Hollywood where Cabana recaptured the NWA World
Championship in another fantastic match.

The rematch
became the best of seven series entitled “7 Levels of Hate” with Adam Pearce
vowing that he would leave the NWA forever if he didn’t best Cabana in the
series.

As a
wrestling fan when I first heard about this I was so excited.This series between two of the best wrestlers
in wrestling today for the coveted NWA World Heavyweight Championship was going
to be nothing short of awesome, and it truly was!

Stage 6 was
set to take place on August 4, 2012 at NWA Legends Fan Fest in Charlotte, North
Carolina and needed to be changed.Stage
7 was to conclude at NWA Wrestling From Hollywood in Glendale, CA however the
NWA had other things in mind.

Behinds to
scenes in the NWA at this time it was quite turbulent.In January of 2012 R. Bruce Tharpe filed a
lawsuit against Rob Trobich and Pro Wrestling Organization LLC siting an
insurance fraud claim.For more details
check out Mike Johnson’s article at PWInsider.

During the series the lawsuit was settled with
Tharpe gaining ownership of the NWA and all its entities.They also switched the National Wrestling
Alliance from having shareholding members to a promoters paying licensing fees
to use the NWA name.

You’ll hear
about how the new regime of the NWA did not want Colt Cabana to represent them
as Champion, how they didn’t want to final match to take place at Championship
Wrestling from Hollywood, how they tried to get Pearce to drop the title before
the final match, and ultimately why the NWA announced that they would not be
sanctioning the title match in the final stage of the “7 Levels of Hate.”Witness the post-match fallout as Cabana and
Pearce renounce the NWA leaving the belt in the ring as both men walk out.It’s truly an amazing turn of events.

This is one
of the finest wrestling documentaries I have ever watched and anyone who is a
fan of not on the NWA but wrestling in general needs to watch it.

This two
disc set features the over 2 hour documentary, all 7 matches, the historic
series aftermath, and backstage interviews and extras.It is completely sold out on the official
website www.sevenlevelsofhate.com.

I also cannot find it on the internet anywhere.So if you locate this DVD don’t hesitate to buy
it as you will not regret it!

Monday, April 27, 2015

In May 2007
TNA ended their relationship withdrawing from the NWA and creating their own
new World Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships.TNA had brought the NWA national recognition
by featuring the World Championship on their weekly show and monthly PPV’s.

According to
the ELLBOW Productions documentary on the History of the National Wrestling
Alliance, TNA was looking to renegotiate their deal with the NWA and it was
unfavorable to the Alliance.Also the
NWA was looking to regain control of their championships once again, as the NWA
World Champion under the TNA banner rarely if ever worked the smaller NWA
promotion shows.

The NWA was
at the highest peak visibility wise that they had been in 14 years thanks to
TNA and they needed to work hard to keep that momentum going.None of the NWA Promotions at that time had
national television distribution however in 2007 with the capabilities of the
internet and resources such as You Tube and Facebook it’s much easier to get
yourself in the public eye than ever before.

With the
Championships vacant the NWA announced their intention to crown a new World
Heavyweight Champion with a 16 man tournament starting on June 2, 2007 and
culminating with the final match on September 1, 2007.The tournament featured 4 mini brackets where
the winners would advance to the final bracket.The called it “Reclaiming the Glory!”

Lou Thez Bracket

June 2nd
Salyersville, KY Brent
Albright defeated Osamu Nishimura

June 9th
Meza, AZ Fred
Sampson defeated Glamour Boy Shane

June 30th
Chula Vista, CABrent
Albright defeated Fred Sampson

Terry Funk Bracket

June 16th
Danvers, MAClaudio
Castagnoli defeated Pepper Parks

June 30th
Lebanon, TNSicodelico
Jr. defeated Roughneck Ryan

July 21st
Wallingford, CTClaudio
Castagnoli defeated Sicodelico Jr.

Jack Brisco Bracket

June 16th
Vancouver, NC, CNBryan Danielson
defeated Nelson Creed

June 30th
Qunicy, MAFergal
Devitt defeated Mikey Nicholls

July 21st
North Tonawanda, NYBryan Danielson
defeated Fergal Devitt

Harley Race Bracket

June 2nd
Cornelia, GAChad
Parham defeated Damian Wayne

June 2nd
Lodi, NJAdam
Pearce defeated Aaron Aguilera

July 13th
Covina, CAAdam
Pearce defeated Chad Parham

Semi Finals

August 12th
Charlotte, NCBrent Albright
defeated Claudio Castagnoli

August 18th
Vancouver, BC, CNBryan Danielson
defeated Adam Pearce

Finals

September 1st
Bayamon, PRAdam Pearce defeated
Brent Albright

"Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce 5 time NWA World Champion

A week prior
to the finals Bryan Danielson was injured in a match with Takeshi Morishima
fracturing his orbital bone.Danielson
was unable to compete in the finals so the man he defeated Adam Pearce was
placed in the match.Danielson was made
the special enforcer and ended up counting the pinfall after the referee was
knocked out.I remember watching the
promo videos and all the hype when this first happened and I always got the
feeling the Bryan Danielson was going to win the tournament

The NWA
World Championship would remain in the public eye thanks to Adam Pearce working
hard to keep the title relevant by being a touring champion and on June 7, 2008
Ring of Honor officially recognized the championship at their Respect Is Earned
2 PPV taping.

Pearce would
go one to defend the NWA World Championship at Battle for Supremacy in Dayton,
OH on June 27, 2008 against ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness.The match would end in disqualification when then
NWA rule of no throwing your opponent over the top rope was enforced.

On August 2,
2008 at Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor VI event in New York City and
culmination of a near year-long feud would take a new turn as Brent Albright
would defeat Adam Pearce for the NWA World Championship.The feud would end at ROH’s Glory By Honor
VII in Philly when Pearce would capture his second championship on September
20, 2008.

Brent Albright NWA World Champion 8/2/2008 - 9/20/2008

In the 16
months since the NWA World Championship left the national exposure of TNA, the
NWA had done a great job in keeping it a premier championship.After winning the tournament Adam Pearce
would tour with the title, bring it to ROH and maintain an excellent feud with
Brent Albright.But then the NWA Board
of Directors decided to put the championship on Blue Demon Jr. and the NWA
World Championship lost all footing it had gained in recognition and relevance.

On October
25, 2008 in Mexico City Blue Demon Jr defeated Adam Pearce to win the NWA World
Championship becoming the first Mexican and Masked Luchador to win the title,
it is also the first time that the Championship changed hands in Mexico.Blue Demon Jr. is the adopted son of Blue
Demon a legendary Mexican luchador.Blue
Demon Jr. is an excellent wrestler having debuted in 1985 and headlined arenas
all over Mexico.I can see why putting
the championship on Demon Jr. would be a way to jump start recognition of the
Championship in Mexico, however, it was not worth the damage it did to its
recognition in the United States.

Blue Demon Jr. NWA World Champion 10/2/2008 - 3/14/2010

Demon Jr.
held the Championship for 505 days rarely making an appearance in the United
States primarily competing in his own promotion NWA Mexico.In my eyes this hurt the NWA World
Championship because it was now essentially exclusive to Mexico.Historically the NWA World Championship was
always defended around the world but it always maintained its strongest
presence in the United States, especially the Southern United States and now it
wasn’t even being defended there.

On March 14,
2010 Adam Pearce defeated Phil Shatter and Blue Demon Jr. in an elimination
match to win his 3rd NWA World Championship.Pearce once again began touring as Champion
to bring recognition back to the title in the United States.

NWA
Championship Wrestling from Hollywood promoted by Dave Marquez, premiered on
KDOC-TV Los Angeles on September 17, 2010.It is a 60 minute, multi-camera studio wrestling show that is crisp, has
great production, and is a throw-back to old studio wrestling days of Georgia
Championship Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling.This show is also available on the internet
to watch.

The NWA
World Championship was prominently featured on the show and an excellent feud
was built between Adam Pearce and Colt Cabana culminating in Cabana winning the
NWA World Championship on March 6, 2011 on the show.

Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana 2 time NWA World Champion

Forty eight
short days later The Sheik defeated Cabana for the Championship in
Jacksonville, FL.There is a lot of
controversy behind this title change.It’s been said that The Sheik bought the title while others refute
that.Bill Behrens stated in the
documentary “7 Levels of Hate” that Sheik winning the title was previously
decided before Cabana winning the belt.

On July 11,
2011 the NWA stripped The Sheik of the Championship.Much controversy surrounds this with many
different versions of what really happened.It’s been said that the Sheik didn’t know about the match or what his
pay off would be.That was refuted by
the NWA stating that the date was known and that the pay for the Champion is a
preset amount that has to be met by the promoter to book the Champion.Others feel that Sheik didn’t want to lose as
it would hurt his position in Zero-1 where he was getting a push.

The Sheik NWA World Champion 4/23/2011 - 7/11/2011

At the end
of the day the Sheik was stripped and Adam Pearce started his 4th
reign as champion defeating Jimmy Rave, Chance Prophet, & Shaun Tempers in
a fatal four way match at the Ohio State Fair on July 31, 2011.

According to
Adam Pearce the NWA basically said we made a mistake let’s just redo the feud
with you and Cabana.When Cabana was
approached about this he was hesitant to do it.They had built a feud for 10 months to result in a short reign when
Cabana was ready to take the title around the world using is already
established reputation.

In my opinion as a fan you’re watching and
following a great feud with Cabana and Pearce that meant something and then
after it culminates in this exciting moment of Cabana winning is all for naught
as 6 weeks later with no build or rhyme or reason you switch the championship
to someone else, and there is no follow up after that.

Pearce had
made a deal with the NWA that he would take the Championship but Cabana would
get it back and have a year-long reign.Eventually Cabana agreed and they started a program where Pearce saved
Cabana and they teamed in a feud with Stu Stone and the Stone Family that
eventually lead to Pearce turning on Cabana.Then on April 8, 2012 Cabana defeated Adam Pearce for his second NWA
World Championship.

After the
title win Cabana and Pearce entered into a Best of 7 Series called the 7 Levels
of Hate.As a wrestling fan this was so
exciting to anticipate because each match was a special stipulation and it was
going to take the NWA World Championship to a huge level of recognition as
these two would battle across the country and around the world in this series.

Stage 6 was
set to take place in at NWA Legends Fan Fest in Charlotte, North Carolina and
needed to be changed.Stage 7 was to
conclude at NWA Wrestling From Hollywood in Glendale, CA however the NWA had
other things in mind.

Rob Trobich

E. Bruce Tharpe

In the
middle of this Series the law suit filed by R. Bruce Tharpe against Bob Trobich
and Pro Wrestling Organization LLC was settled and the ownership of the NWA and
all its entities were now in the control of a new LLC headed by Tharpe.To read more about it follow this link to
Mike Johnson’s article at PWInsider.

According to
the documentary “7 Levels of Hate” after Stage 6 Fred Rubenstein contact Adam
Pearce and stated they were no longer interested in doing business with Colt Cabana.
Another issue was after the lawsuit and the way the structure of the NWA
changed Championship Wrestling from Hollywood withdrew from the NWA on
September 9, 2012.

Originally
State 7 was to finish in Glendale, CA where it started, now that Championship
Wrestling from Hollywood was no longer part of the NWA they didn’t want the
match to happen there.Eventually Ben
Gilbert of NWA Warzone Wrestling in Australia agreed to host the final
match.To Pearce and Cabana this was good
for the feud and for the NWA because now the “7 Levels of Hate” was going
international and it would be the first time the NWA World Championship would
change hands in Australia.

The NWA
strongly objected to Cabana becoming the Champion and told Pearce to drop the
title the first week of October while he was in Virginia.Pearce refused for several reasons.First he was already book on several shows as
Champion including a show for new NWA head Bruce Tharpe.Pearce felt that the other promoters had
already spent money on advertising, paid for airfare and paid deposits to Pearce
for his appearances.Also the feud with
Cabana had running for two years and to have Pearce drop the title cold to
someone else made no sense.

Pearce
strongly felt that Cabana had to win this feud and deserved the be the NWA World
Champion and that Cabana was the right man to lead the NWA especially
considering his large following and fan base.As it was their right, the NWA felt different.It was agreed that the match would be a
non-sanctioned match by the NWA and that it would no longer be for the
title.

All of these
actions drove Pearce to want to leave the NWA and he decided that he would step
down as Champion after the match with Cabana, and that’s exactly what he
did.Cabana won and Pearce said that
Cabana was the rightful champion.Cabana
cut a promo basically saying the NWA was the past and he was the future and
that he didn’t want it.Pearce also
stated that because he lost the match he would honor his agreement that if he
lost he would leave the NWA forever and if Cabana didn’t want the title, then
neither did he.The both dropped the
belt in the ring and left it.

Fred Rubenstein

After the
fallout the Vice-President of the NWA Fred Rubenstein went on the Kayfabe Radio
show in November 2012 and said the reason the NWA would not sanction the match
was because the promoter of NWA Warzone had not paid his licensing fee, even
after he was given two extensions to pay it.When R. Bruce Tharpe became the owner of the NWA they switched from
having shareholding members to having licensees.According to the documentary “7 Levels of
Hate” a licensing fee had nothing to do with it.

Kahagas NWA World Champion 11/2/2012 - 3/16/2013

The NWA
quickly crowned a new champion in Kahagas on November 2, 2012 in Clayton, NJ
when he won a multi-person elimination match.Rob Conway won the title in San Antonio on March 16, 2013.NJPW rejoined the NWA where currently R.
Bruce Tharpe is a heel manger leading a faction of wrestlers representing the
NWA at NJPW shows.

Rob Conway 2 x NWA World Champion

Conway has had
several matches in NJPW on their major cards defending the Championship in many
high profile matches against Satoshi Koima, Manabu Nakanishi, and Jushin
Thunder Liger while at the same time defending his title in the States.

Satoshi Kojima NWA World Champion 1/4/2014 - 6/2/2104

On January
4, 2014 at Wrestle Kingdom 8 Conway lost the Championship to Kojima.Kojima successfully defended the title in
Japan, Taiwan, and the United States before losing it back to Conway on June 2
in Las Vegas.

The current
NWA World Champion is Hiroyoshi Tenzan having won the Championship on February
14, 2015 in Sendai Japan.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan NWA World Champion since 2/14/2015

The NWA
World Heavyweight Championship has certainly suffered it’s up and downs over
the years and while it is not currently being featured on a weekly nationally
televised wrestling company in the United States it is still a very active
championship and one only need to turn to the internet to keep up to date on
it.Most casual fans do not do that
though, they look no further than what is fed them on television each week to
get their wrestling fix.

I’m from
Maine, in the Northeast the WWE has been king since 1963 and most casual fans
aren’t familiar with anything that isn’t the WWE.The NWA has always and will always been more
highly regarded in the south and in Japan were in Japan professional wrestling
is always held in a higher standing there than it is here in the United States,
also Japan believes heavily in history and tradition.

The basis of my tattoo

For a
die-hard fan like my friends and I we watch good wrestling no matter who is
producing it.We follow it on the
internet and social media.We watch the
shows on You Tube and buy the DVD’s.When I think of the NWA I think of Ric Flair, I think of Jim Crockett
promotions, I think of Georgia Championship Wrestling, Starrcade 1985 “I Quit”
match with Tully Blanchard and Magnum TA inside the steel cage.Hell, I have the NWA ring skirt logo tattooed
on my arm because that to me is my favorite time of wrestling.

So the
question is, is the NWA World Heavyweight Championship still a Premier
Championship in wrestling?When I
started this I thought I already knew my answer which was no, not any more.That answer though is why I started down this
path writing this article.I didn’t like
that answer, I want the NWA World Championship to be highly regarded as a premier
championship in wrestling.

The NWA is
alive and well just not up here in the Northeast or in the whole country for
that matter.The NWA is highly active in
the South East from Ohio/West Virginia down to Florida and Texas area and to
those fans the NWA World Heavyweight Championship is THE premier
championship.

The NWA
doesn’t need a national television deal to be a premier World
Championship.It only needs the fans
that believe in it, the wrestlers that strive to compete for it, and the
history that is behind it.With this it
will always be a premier World Championship, and that makes me very happy.

On a
personal note I would like to see the NWA start a YouTube show where the NWA
Champion is featured weekly.It doesn’t
need to be a full hour of wrestling, just a 15 minute documentary style show
like the Candice and Joey Show, Brian Myers Making Towns, or Kevin Steen’s
Weekend Escapades that would show us what the Champion is doing, where he’s
going, life on the road as champion.

I think the
NWA Champion needs to tour and hit every state in the country.I don’t think the NWA World Championship has
ever been defended in Maine, I think it should be.

Thanks for
reading, please leave a comment, like my Facebook page and follow my twitter,
and check out the rest of my blog.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Growing
up I was huge fan of Jon Landis movies, Kentucky Fried Movie, Three
Amigos, Trading Places, Coming to America and more. And now his son Max
Landis has made my all-time favorite short
film called Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling.

Wrestling
Isn’t Wrestling is a 24 minute short film that was released on You Tube
on March 16, 2015 and as of this posting has hit 1.5 million views.
It tells the story of the career of
wrestler Triple H from 1995 to 2014 in a comical way with the wrestlers
portrayed by women. This was not done in a mocking way and in fact he
states in a follow up post that it was girls to “divorce it visual from
the iconography of wrestling.”

Triple H even tweeted his endorsement.

Landis shows that he is truly a huge fan of wrestling and has been following it since he was a kid based on this presentation.

It’s
not a mystery that Colt Cabana is one of my favorite wrestlers between
is in ring ability and how entertaining he is with his podcast and you
tube series it’s hard not being a fan. In
2011 he released “Wrestling Road Diaries” and I reviewed the
documentary back in 2011 and have included that review below. In 2014
he released “Wrestling Road Diaries Too” and I figured it’s about time I
put up my review for that one too.

This
time around we have former WWE Superstars; Cliff Compton a former WWE
Tag Team Champion as Domino of Deuce & Domino fame and Luke Gallow
aka The Big LG aka Festus aka Doc Gallows aka
Sex Ferguson, the aka’s could go one forever.

These
two documentaries couldn’t be more different in style, look, and
content, but they are both amazing and are must haves! I paid the extra
$5 for both editions to get the Bonus disc with
deleted scenes and in the case of “Too” a video of the live Art of
Wrestling podcast they recorded at the end of the journey.

At
the beginning Gallows is picked up at the airport making a grand
entrance being pushed in a wheelchair wearing purple tights with a star
on the crotch and his satin Ribera Steakhouse Jacket.
He had just recently torn his groin muscle but didn’t want to miss his
bookings.

The
trio travel from town to town showing us how life on the road can be
exciting and yet monotonous as at times there is a lot of just waiting
for the show to start. They talk candidly about
their experiences and disappointments when working for the WWE. Colt
opens up about it a lot more than the first Road Diaries which he filmed
just after his release. They discuss what it takes to make a living
in wrestling not being in WWE.

We
also get to see a side that one normally doesn’t when Gallows is forced
to seek medical attention as his injury keeps getting worse. It’s one
of the nastiest bruises I have ever seen.

The comradery between the three is amazing as is what they do to entertain themselves.

I
really don’t want to give away too much because I think you just need to
buy it and watch it for yourself and just trust me that it’s wicked
awesome and you won’t regret your purchase.
I’ve linked the trailers below a well as to Colt’s merchandise page
where you can order them both with the bonus discs for only $40, saving
$10.

I
look forward to his next installment and hope it doesn’t take as long
for him to do this time. It would be cool it Wrestling Road Diaries 3
showed us Colt on an international tour in Japan
or Europe.

Wrestling Road Diaries

Filmed fall 2009

Release Date 3/21/2011

Run time02:40:30

Featuring: Colt Cabana, Bryan Danielson, & Sal Rinauro

Also Featuring a 100 or so Independent Wrestlers, some you will know others you won't.

I pre-ordered
Wrestling Road Diaries based on the trailer and teaser I saw on you tube
and because I am a fan of Colt Cabana & Daniel Bryan/Bryan
Danielson.There have been so
many documentaries on wrestling of the last couple of years that have
never been released on DVD ( Hard Knocks, Bloodstained Memoirs, Card
Subject to Change and more) and I’m glad to see this one made it.

I ordered the DVD plus paid the $5 extra to get the bonus disc with over and hour of additional footage.I received my movie on Thursday March 24th in a plain unmarked envelope like I was ordering porn or something.The DVD insert was signed by Cabana & Danielson.The image above is the paper insert and the disc itself is screen printed.The bonus disc is a plain disc with no writing or markings of any kind.It came in a white sleeve with “bonus” written on the sleeve and it is just placed in the case.Clearly that $5 is 95% profit.

I watched the feature that evening and that is what this review is on.I will do a write up on the bonus disc once I watch it.

The primary
focus of the feature is a 10 day tour the trio embarked on in September
2009 after Danielson was offered a contract with the WWE.It also highlights the final Ring of Honor shows that Danielson worked September 25th & 26th in Boston & New York.

This
documentary, over anything I have ever seen or heard of, truly shows
that heart and dedication one must have to make it as an independent
wrestler.Starting from a HD Net television taping at a packed The Arena in Philadelphia to barley attended event in Connecticut they show the trials and tribulations of independent wrestling.

The friendship between the three is evident based on the thousands of miles driven and the accommodations stayed at.The
candid comments and behind the scenes footage gives insight to
independent shows of every level and how they each approach and feel
about their style of professional wrestling.You also see a personal side that you would only see if you knew them and spent time with them.

The only negative item of note is that at times the audio is difficult to make out.It appears as though the only microphone used during filming is the one attached to the camera.So if they were to far away or looking away from the camera the dialogue is faint, however this is less than 3% for the film.

This is a must
buy for any wrestling fan not just fans of Cabana and Danielson or fans
of only WWE or TNA, but for all fans of professional wrestling.

So use one of the links below and buy a copy, you won’t regret it.Not to mention Colt could use the money to fix the giant crack in his windshield.

Contributors

Michael J. Labbe

Husband, father of three, and lover of all things professional wrestling Michael is the founder of The Wrestling Insomniac and posts unique articles about wrestling, live event reports, and regular columns The Last Match and Signed Trading Cards.

superstarreview@gmail.com

Brandon Myers

Brandon, a wrestling fan of over thirty years, enjoys all wrestling but spends most of his time watching classic Memphis and WCW matches. Brandon contributes live event reports, documentary/DVD reviews, and other assorted wrestling posts.

LuchaKoopa@gmail.com

Roy Kenny

Roy 's column Roy's Reviews focuses on reports from events he has attended and wrestling DVD's.